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1 Year anniversary anxiety

Edit 8 hours later: reading back this is the vaguest post I have ever written, if that is even possible, but eh… some funny conclusions in the end in the ‘I need’ and the ‘3 Things to be grateful for’. It is so funny how these repetitive questions again and again bring original answers. When I ask these questions I never know what the answer will be. Todays answers are those of a new era.

In 3 weeks it is my 1 year anniversary, well, assuming I get there without drinking alcohol before. Which I assume but hey, this is an addiction so it is better not to look ahead and stretch myself thin. But I do. I do look ahead and I do stretch myself thin and I do anticipate catastrophe – not sure what it looks like yet though. So I do as I always do, sit down and write about it to see what comes up.

I changed my mind not going to look at that, or maybe this is what came up. Not sure. 🙂 I go back to focussing on being happy that I quit because when I am there is no issue. I do worry since a few months that I’m not over the top happy that I quit anymore. But maybe I had a serious case of the pink clouds earlier this year :-). I am guessing that feeling really happy pulled me trough the first days, weeks, months which people say are the hardest. Looking back I do not remember any irresistable urges or cravings. Some people have problems with the not drinking. I have more problems with the living sober.

I feel I see things in the world more clearly but still have no clue of where I am or where I am heading. I now know a lot of what I do not want, but I do not know what I do want. And even the ‘things’ I ‘do’ ‘want’ (book store man) are not really what I want. It is all a mist, a transfer of addiction. I’ve had enough of the moaning about that btw. Met him yesterday for 5 minutes, he’s in a dark place and excluding me. Which is good and logical because my intentions in this are wavering an unclear and I do not even want to be there where I am in that. So… be done with it Feeling, go back to your own place.Truth is hard to bear sometimes.

And then, separate from this addiction transfer there is the poor me part which maybe needs addressing some time because I am feeling it is not helpful anymore to hide but I don’t dare to. Everything is so new. I feel the world is running through me and I still attach to the pain which I feel deeper now I am sober. I also feel the beauty deeper but I have this focus on pain and sadness.

I notice I still have this tendency to sabotage myself before anybody else does. Yesterday I felt it has to do with family dynamics. I can not stand up right because I would call bullshit on our family. (And in that, do you notice the use of the word ‘our’? I would be surprised if in any of the 309 posts up to now I have mentioned ‘our’ and ‘family’ in one sentence. Ghegheghe. Interesting.) In order for my family to function I need to step down and not stand and walk upright. For me to be able to walk upright is to point out the ugliness of the situation of the marriage between my mother and father. That is the function shame has in our family. The group needs to stay together, in order to do that members need to adjust, to fit in.

I need to detach myself, be independent, cut the umbilical cord. And that would make me see what is not allowed to be seen. I do not want to live in this darkness anymore. I want to be able to walk upright, I want to be able to let go. I am feeling like dealing with this is very much like Richard Rahl revealing the statue of himself and Kahlan in the city of Altur’Rang (Faith of the Fallen, book 6 in the series Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind). In this book Richard is enslaved in a world where beauty is forbidden because enjoying beauty would ‘elevate one above the other’ and that would pervert society so instead they worships and practise misery.

I have the sudden ‘insight’ (?) that detaching myself from this ugliness is an important part of my reason for being born in this family. To hold up the mirror to their destruction. To refuse to carry their shame. I did not do that. I went into general and self-destructive mode. Need to get addicted and sober to come back to this realisation. Now I understand my anger towards them from early age on and the intensity of my refusal of them. I did not want to ‘take them in’ or ‘be with them’ because they sowed shame. This is why I need to be alone. Otherwise I would find shelter with the other and not notice what was going on. 🙂 / 😦 It is funny how letting go of pain makes room for insight. Not sure if this post is done but it is enough for today.

I am happy that I quit. Not sure why but it seems to be the path I’m walking.

I need: no clue what I need, or I feel I need nothing. Not sure which.

I want: pfff, no clue either. Hmmm, get outside, finally (!!!) buy a new tea sieve.

I take: Ayurvedic pills and still chocolate. My eating has improved though, real meals from real recipes with posts on Facebook :-).

3 Things; 1 this post and the insights, 2 life :-), 3 myself.

Discipline: things will come when they come. I went to bed at 0:00 yesterday. Which is 2 hours before I did in the last 2-3 weeks. Aiming at 23:45 today.

8 thoughts on “1 Year anniversary anxiety”

Not sure that I know where I am going either but I long ago gave up on the idea that I could change my destiny or force my fate, sure I still have goals and am proactive, I don’t just sit around waiting for things to happen, but at the same time I have lessened the reigns and allowed life to guide me. I always end up pleased with where I end up, even if it may not seem that way at the time and am sure you will too.

That is a beautiful approach. 🙂 I’m still at the sitting around part but I guess I now know why I am overwhelmed by life after getting sober. I did the test that Heya Monster spoke about yesterday, with corrections I ended up having 160 something drinks in a week. I now know why TF! I am struggling iso walking or running as I, of course, expected to be. 😀 / 😦 / Well, this is the path I ended up with so it is up to me to find another, more sustainable path. 🙂 Working on it. 🙂
xx, Feeling

Dear Feeling,
I feel lost too!
I have no idea where I am going or what my purpose is now that I’ve retired!
It’s crazy! Other people seem to get on just fine.
Then I just throw up my hands and play Candy Crush soda, or Cookiw Jam, and now I have numb fingers all day long!
YIKES!
xo
Wendy

Dear Wendy,
Yes, so much has been changing and for me too; if I would have what I call ‘work structure’ I would not even worry about a quarter of the stuff I worry about now but… I don’t and this is how it goes and that is what I have to deal with. We shall see. 🙂
I’m wondering: retiring seems such a nice thing but there are quite a lot of people too who have to adjust a lot. I can imagine that is hard. Specifically when your passion has been ‘cut off’ if I may refer to your hearing device. 😦 Let us see how we continue. That is what life seems to be about: to deal with what has been given. 😦 or :-).
xx, Feeling

Feeling, I am so grateful for this post – I feel like you share yourself and your inner workings so clearly. As to your dilemma of what to do or what you want to do next, I just want to reiterate Millie’s advice to let life lead you. So often I find when I say ‘yes’ to an opportunity, it unfolds into something bigger and better than anything I might anticipate or plan for. … Also, my go-to advice is to follow your passion. You are so attune with your feelings, I wonder if there is something you can do for others in that capacity? It is such a gift to hear you talk through your feelings and emotions in your posts. I know so many people who would love to be able to identify all that they feel, but don’t quite know how. What would that be, I wonder? I will think on it…. *smile* Sending you a hug!

Heya, Monster, thank you for your comment. 🙂 It is good to hear you say appreciate me speaking the way I do. I sometimes forget that, what to me feels like an endless drifting on the ocean, does not come easy to others.
I don’t know what I want / need to do. I do have the feeling that something is up and being born.
Funny that you are thinking about how to apply this; I have always wondered how it would be to direct people in a play or movie in expressing their feelings. Or be a detective. 😀 I used to do quality audits but stopped performing the random checks myself because on ‘feel’ I could already pick out all the defected goods in a lot blind. Ghegheghe, at first that made me suspect :-D.
I don’t feel I can help people with working out stuff yet. I tend to want to help too much, push things, want to mend things and I can be pretty forcefull in that. It is on my to-do list to learn to not do that 🙂
Let me know if you have an insight on this because I’m, well, my ship is still on the sea. 🙂
xx, Feeling

I love this – ‘I do have the feeling that something is up and being born.’ What a great feeling/thought. … As for ideas, well, I can highly recommend directing a play or a movie as it is my life and I love it. *smile* Love the idea of detective. Could be cool, naughty, and interesting beyond compare. … What about fortune teller? Or social worker? Or HR? Or advertising? Oooh, advertising is explicitly linked to emotions and feelings. Hm… But you’re against corruption/subversiveness, so maybe not advertising. I like fortune teller, because isn’t the art in reading what people are showing you without realizing it? Tarot readings would be so intriguing, too. … I’ll keep thinking! *smile* -HM.